EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN RELATIONSHIPS: Effective communication in relationships is a learnt skill that can be modified and enhanced throughout our lives. It is influenced by a persons beliefs, culture and thoughts. It is easy to consider Communication skills to be inbuilt, something we don’t need to learn, but even though basic skills are learnt from the day we are born …
What is change about? Change is an ongoing process essential to life and living. Our body has the capacity to respond to change on a moment to moment basis. For example, our heart rate changes to meet our biological needs. Often we might not even be conscious of how we change in order to adapt to an ever- changing environment. …
The couple is surely one of the archetypal patterns of human relationships. All human societies appear to have long term adult pair-bonding of one kind or another. Yet the maintenance of a healthy couple bond over time is perhaps one of the most difficult and challenging tasks of our adult lives. The life cycle of the couple involves many changes. …
Children are amazing people. They are growing and developing at an incredible pace, taking in information, filtering, integrating and learning. Early in life, children’s neural networks are growing rapidly, and connections are being made at a phenomenal rate. In the first three years children’s brain size increases from approximately 350-400 grams to about 1100 grams. Brain development is influenced by …
In my years as a therapist, I have worked in a number of environments – doctor’s surgeries, youth centres, training facilities, and private practices. The spaces provided to work have ranged from ugly and depressing, through utilitarian and plain, to comfortable and friendly. In all of these working environments I have found myself ‘attending to the space’. It was important …
At times of great change, uncertainty and crisis it easy to slide into a preoccupation with what has been lost, and what challenges may lie ahead. The mind swiftly moves into fear and seeks out potential danger; a natural and at times helpful design function of the human brain, which has helped us survive many thousands of years as a …
Guilt is an emotional state where we experience conflict at having done something that we believe we should not have done (or conversely, having not done something we believe we should have done). This can give rise to a feeling state which does not go away easily and can be difficult to endure. If you are experiencing feelings of guilt …
Life events such as separation or divorce can have a big impact on your child’s emotions and behaviour. Your child may be anxious and clingy or perhaps withdrawn and sad. They may be anxious about going to school or struggling to keep up with their classmates. Its also possible that your child may be acting out their anxiety or confusion …
Dieting has become common and normalised in our society with many of us having an unhealthy or disordered relationship with food. Studies indicate that up to 82% of the population is ‘sometimes’ or ‘very often’ on a diet. Our culture has been brainwashed into thinking that ‘ultra-thin’ is equal to beauty. In the course of history, this is a relatively …
Infidelity – Discovering your Partner has been Unfaithful How to deal with Infidelity in a relationships is not a simple task and there is no quick fix for emotional pain and betrayal of trust. Â Discovering your partner has been unfaithful can be painful and traumatic or if you yourself are the one who has been unfaithful, then taking responsibility for …
While every child will at times be inattentive, hyperactive or impulsive, the difference with children who have ADHD is that these symptoms will be overabundant, happen in all settings and be severe enough and persistent enough to interfere with their learning and relationships. What is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common …
How Early Childhood Attachments Shape our Adult Relationships This information sheet may be of interest to the following people: Adult children of alcoholics/drug addicts Adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse Mothers with Postnatal Depression Parents experiencing difficulty bonding to their children Adults prone to unsatisfactory or abusive relationships Adults who experienced childhood physical or emotional abuse Adults who experience childhood …
What are eating disorders? An eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating or binge eating. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food, but at some point, the urge to eat less or …
Counselling for FIFO (Fly In Fly Out) Couples & Families What has become commonly known as the Fly In Fly Out Lifestyle is being lived by thousands of families across Australia with some workers flying from as far north as Queensland or from as far south as Tasmania, to take up work at mining camps in Western Australia, on remote …
Hardship and challenge are quintessential parts of the human experience, yet suffering is more optional. The turbulent times in our lives are an invitation to lift our consciousness, make choices about our perceptions and be the alchemist of our life. Alchemy simply put, is the intention to transmute something of perceived lesser quality to a more noble and great quality …
This article looks at what boundaries are, the role they play in development of self, relationships and families and thinking about boundaries as a tool for managing children’s behaviour. Setting Healthy Boundaries with Your Child or Adolescent Below are common scenarios for today’s parents/caregivers. What we see here is what we may say out aloud and what we may be …
“All I could think about was food. Even when I became aware that my scrabbling in the dirt after raw vegetables and wild plants had become an obsession, I found it terribly difficult to free myself. I had been seduced by righteous eating” – Stephen Bratman Orthorexia Nervosa or ‘Healthy Eating’ disorder was coined by American doctor Stephen Bratman in 1997 …
WHAT IS INSOMNIA Insomnia or difficulty in sleeping affects many of us at different times in our lives. The reasons for insomnia developing are often transient (such as lifestyle and/or behavioural changes or a crisis) but may also result from an ongoing condition such as chronic pain. Sleeplessness can become prolonged or habitual when the initial trigger is not dealt …
Is social anxiety just another name for being really shy? Almost everyone gets a little anxious or embarrassed in front of other people now and then, though some of us are more shy than others. Although there is some discomfort, for many people shyness is a manageable emotion. Sometimes though the anxiety can be so intense that it stops us …
A miscarriage is a significant loss for a couple, particularly as it is commonly unexpected, thereby causing shock, trauma and loss. These are all issues difficult to deal with individually, and as a couple. Each partner might react differently to the loss, and find it difficult to know how to share their grief. Grief is a personal process, we all …